Topic: Old English ( AD)

Transcription

1 Course Title: History of English Language Course Code: ENG. 421 LECTURE 5: Week 6 Topic: Old English ( AD) The history of the English language really started with the arrival of three Germanic tribes, who invaded Britain during the 5th century AD. These tribes, the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes, crossed the North Sea from what today is Denmark and northern Germany. At that time the inhabitants of Britain spoke a Celtic language. But most of the Celtic speakers were pushed west and north by the invaders - mainly into what is now Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The Angles came from Englaland and their language was called Englisc - from which the words England and English are derived. Also influencing English at this time were the Vikings. Norse invasions, beginning around 850, brought many North Germanic words into the language, particularly in the north of England. The majority of words in modern English come from foreign, not Old English roots. In fact, only about one sixth of the known Old English words have descendants surviving today. About half of the most commonly used words in modern English have Old English roots. Words like be, water, and strong, for example, derive from Old English roots. Old English, whose best known surviving example is the poem Beowulf, lasted until about The German tribes who ultimately give rise to English language interacted with Roman Empire as a result they borrowed some words from the Latin also so sometimes English language is termed as "Borrowed language." There are 3 classifications of English: 1. Old English - Native language for England. Derived from Anglo-Saxon.

2 2. Middle English - Came into existence around 1066 A.D. Derived from Anglo- Norman. 3. Modern English - Language came into prominence since 15th Century. Blend of Greek & Latin words. A Few Primary Characteristics of Old English Spelling and Pronunciation: 1. The long vowels have undergone extensive change due to the Great Vowel Shift. 2. different letters 3. There were no unstressed syllables; primary stress usually occurred on the first syllable Word stock: Nearly 85% of Old English words are no longer in use. Those that remain are basic elements of our vocabulary. Also absent are many borrowings from Latin and French. Grammar: Old English was primarily a synthetic language whereas Modern English is primarily analytic. As a result, Old English is a highly inflected language. Like other Germanic languages of the period, Old English was fully inflected with five grammatical cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, and instrumental, though the instrumental was very rare), which had dual plural forms for referring to groups of two objects (but only in the personal pronouns) in addition to the usual singular and plural forms. It also assigned gender to all nouns, including those that describe inanimate objects: for example, sēo sunne (the Sun) was feminine, while se mōna (the Moon) was masculine.

3 [ Foreign Influences on Old English: Celtic, Latin & Scandinavian. I. Celtic: Traditionally, many maintain that the influence of Celtic on English has been small, citing the small number of Celtic loanwords taken into the language. The number of Celtic loanwords is of a lower order than either Latin or Scandinavian. II. Latin Influence: Borrowing reflect early contact between Germanic tribes and Roman Empire. One of the ways the influence of Latin can be seen is that many Latin words for activities came to also be used to refer to the people engaged in those activities. III. Scandinavian Influence: The second major source of loanwords to Old English was the Scandinavian words introduced during the Viking invasions of the 9th and 10th centuries. In addition to a great many place names, these consist mainly of items of basic vocabulary, and words concerned with particular administrative aspects. Morphology Unlike modern English, Old English is a language rich with morphological diversity and is spelled essentially as it is pronounced. It maintains several distinct cases: the nominative, accusative, genitive, dative and (vestigially) instrumental, remnants of which survive only in a few pronouns in modern English. Syntax Word order The word order of Old English is widely believed to be subject-verb-object (SVO) as in modern English and most Germanic languages. The word order of Old English, however, was not overly important because of the aforementioned morphology of the language. As long as declension was correct, it did not matter whether you said, "My name is..." as "Mīn nama is..." or "Nama mīn is...

4 QUESTIONS 1. How and when the history of English language really started? 2. Which language inhabitants of Britain spoke in 5 th Century? 3. From where did the Angles come from and what was their language called? 4. How did the North Germanic words come to English language? 5. From where the majority of words in modern English came? Support your answer with examples. 6. What are the three classifications of English? Explain briefly. 7. Briefly write about the foreign influence on English Language. Objective Questions: Q. 7 Mark the statement as True or False: a) The history of the English language started during the 5th century AD. b) The history of the English language started during the 9th century AD. c) Three tribes invaded Britain in 5 th Century. d) Three e) Inhabitants of Britain spoke Persian Language. f) With Norse invasions, around 850, brought many North Germanic words into the English language. g) Old English, lasted until about 1100 AD. h) The majority of words in modern English come from foreign, not Old English roots. i) Nearly 85% of Old English words are no longer in use. j) Traditionally, many maintain that the influence of Celtic on English has been small. k) Traditionally, many maintain that the influence of Celtic on English has been very large. l) The word order of Old English was not overly important. m) Old English was primarily a synthetic language. n) Old English was primarily a synthetic language whereas Modern English is primarily analytic. o) Old English was primarily an analytic language whereas Modern English is primarily synthetic. p) Many words in Old English come from Latin language.

5 q) Latin language has an influence on Old English. r) Latin, Celtic and Scandinavian language has influenced Old English. s) The second major source of loanwords to Old English was the Scandinavian words. t) In Old English many place names come from Scandinavian language. u) Word from Scandinavian language come to Old English during 15 th Century. v) Word from Scandinavian language come to Old English during 9 th and 10 th Century. w) Word from Scandinavian language come to Old English during Viking invasions. x) Old English is a language rich with morphological diversity. y) The word order of Old English is believed to be SOV. z) The word order of Old English is believed to be SVO.